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08 May 2012

and Have Group Will Travel. Until they take it away there are no level 25 guilds, Alliance OR Horde who should not have a Black War Bear and the Glory! achievement for every guild member interested over level 80.

**have group will travel has been removed from the game... this is all historically fun now, not much more**

1. you can actually fly into Orgrimmar and Thunderbluff
2. no one is watching Silvermoon for attack, even if all 40 of you rode up the scar, which is inadvisable
3. with the ability to bring everyone to the exact square on a map where any other player is already standing this achievement can be cake for even disorganized raiders of any age or experience level

I have a plan... which I will outline here. Obviously the order can change... the important thing is that with 10 minutes of planning you can spend an hour and get some awesome rewards for everyone.

Hearth a rogue and someone with master flying in a level 25 guild to the Broken Keel Tavern (speak to Innkeeper Wiley) at Ratchet and another pair of members to Light's Hope Chapel. Pre-hearthing just makes it take less time to travel between points. If you're flying from Stormwind or boating from Booty Bay you can skip Wiley in Ratchet and can fly directly to the North Tower Pass/Zul'Aman and run the rest of the way, depending on your existing flight points.
(the rogue for orgrimmar is actually only important because most FtA raids are disorderly and difficult to get up and moving during preparation and it protects the player sitting in town from detection)
Build the raid group with the following rules:
no alt swapping or dc'ing while in the raid, you will be removed from raid and replaced
you will be summoned to each location, hang out here and stay settled
a readycheck will follow specific instructions and you will be summoned as soon as we're all ready
mages will summon a stormwind portal as soon as the fight is done for those who cannot hearth
b'res will be for heals and tanks only - if you die run back or stay dead until we can mass res
Start in Orgrimmar by having the rogue hearth to Ratchet and fly in and vanish on top of one of the canopy's surrounding the city and summon to their location when raid is ready.
Hearth/Port back to Stormwind except party members tied to other locations on purpose.
Have your other Ratchet hearthed member fly to Mulgore and summon the raid to the top of Baine's longhouse when the raid is ready. There's a spot on a rock on the side of Thunderbluff just under Baine's longhouse.
Hearth/Port back to Stormwind except party members tied to other locations on purpose.
Have one of the Light's Hope Chapel hearthed members fly to the sewer entrance/backdoor to Undercity and summon the raid to that location when the raid is ready.
Hearth/Port back to Stormwind except the last party member hearthed to Plaguelands.
One member fly to Z'A from Light's Hope Chapel and run around Silvermoon or up the scar.
Summon the raid to the front doors of Silvermoon when ready.
Hearth/Port back to Stormwind and check your mail.

The two most dangerous cities are Orgrimmar where ALL of the Horde hang out and Undercity which is a sentimental favorite for most of the Horde faction players.

THE CAST AND DETAILS

Raid Composition:
2+ tanks
8-10 heals - HoTs are your best friend
28-30 DPS - hunters are not actually as convenient as other ranged for these fights

WHO: Lady Sylvanas Windrunner

WHERE: Undercity by the Apothacarium; Under the Ruins of Lordaeron, Tirisfal Glades
WHAT: Hunter, Banshee and Queen of the Undead (Fade, Multishot, Summon Skeleton)
disengage + invisibility = faery fire ALL the time
/tar Lady macro so she's not easily lost in the crowd of courtesans and summoned undead
2 tanks, one for Sylvanas and one for the battlemasters and bat
(there is no longer a "best" place to tank Sylvanas - pull her where she already is)
This is the second most popular capital city in the Horde - PvP is likely
WHEN: never first (as a favorite city you will alert the whole Horde faction to Orgrimmar)

WHO: Baine Bloodhoof

WHERE: Main Rise; Thunder Bluff, Mulgore

WHAT: Chieftan, poss Warrior/Shaman (Cleave, Mortal Strike, War Stomp, Uppercut)
attack inside the tent because his knockback is pretty extreme
knockback has no diminishing returns and is used by all tauren protectors-be ready
WHEN: any order (the Horde are much less protective of Baine than they were of Cairne)

WHO: Warchief Garrosh Hellscream

WHERE: Valley of Strength, Grommash Hold; Orgrimmar, Durotar
WHAT: Warrior (Berserker Charge, Whirlwind, Demoralizing Shout, Shockwave and Cleave)
delegates from all of the horde nations are in the room with him so 2+ tanks required
This is the Horde capital and home to most hearthstones in that faction
PvP is a reality with this boss.
also: Gamon can be kited by Horde from the Inn to join in the fight and will buff Garrosh
KILL GAMON AS SOON AS HE APPEARS
WHEN: first

Is Renaissance ready to be known as the guild who pwned this so often they got bored with it?

I'm not sure. I guess there's only one way to find out... and I have only murder in mind.

... FOR THE ALLIANCE!

** For those of you concerned that we could have gone to Shat and dropped down in the Isle of Q'D... sadly, there's now invisi-wall technology blocking the way through and I'm not willing to spend the time and money in repairs and death-running to find the one "hole" in order to utilize this route.

yesterday while headed out to find something to do I discovered three things.

(it's hard enough to see in this format, if you grow it you lose all detail, sorry folks)

First is that the video above, a first attempt at using my nonexistent editing skills and as rough and raw as it may be is also the only evidence I have remaining of an area that used to be reachable in WoW and is now swallowed by the Cataclysm. There will be many more cool places, one I'm using as a hiding place in an upcoming hide and seek. (Artimes showed it to me after I've run over the top of it so many times and wondered what might be down inside it... WOOT for sexy folks who don't wonder and just go find out! Without them there would be no Spot the Pally or Belegorad's Travels!)

Another is that there are people who have fun and people who are fun and they're not always the same people. Katsdruid and myself experienced a second of "am I lagging...? wtf?" outside of the Dwarven Quarter bank yesterday and upon inspection found that we were not lagging out and the other player frozen mid-flight was also not lagging... he was just feeling a little stiff. (Effects of Deepstone Oil: May leave you a bit stiff. Buff: You find you are unable to move except to blink.)

Finally, Renaissance is the coolest group of "Sure... lets see what we can do" folks I've known in years! A few of us who happened to be in Stormwind made these experimental first tries.

SO much fun. OMG... nothing in game was really gained. Unless you count laughter and creativity and spending time together.

Herrim, Sweetassyn will mail you some Deepstone Oil when the realms come back up... you have 29 days to find it and put it to good use. First Kabechet has to go farming for more fishes. Deepstone Oil is made from Albino Cavefish. One fish = 1-2 oils. Syn seems to get a really awesome droprate of it.

Then I say that Stormwind, Uldaman needs a practical joke over the island to other places up by the keep... what says you?

Charlie wanted to do words in the sky over town... Kat wants to build a mile-high tower of drakes... we have many many suggestions.

BTW... in case you think I haven't thought of anything... MY thought is that most people finding something unusual first back away and then have to try to understand it by exploring it... and I have the ability to make movies and a blog needing some new "themes" since losing Belegorad's Travels (who am I kidding? he did exactly one post in that heading)... Candid Camera a la WoW? Oh yeah. LOL

Oh... and for Herim... Magria. She'll kill you dead if you armor up before hand. She's just beautiful that way. Trust and faith and a ton of bandages for afterwards. That's what you'll need.

And a new link below and some help for Magria and other spirit beast tamers here from the Huntsman's Lodge.

Peace... and if not peaceful then find some folks to get a little stiff with and see what fun ensues. LOL

06 May 2012

a long time ago on a realm far far away there was a guild full of friends who had fun doing ridiculous things inside of a game by making up new games to play with their own rules...

much fun was had and more importantly, the friendships fostered by the togetherness of being silly as a group have survived even guild wars and breakups along the way. Each of the goofy activities also had unexpected results and managed to give awareness that led to being better at other activities in WoW.

For instance... Naked World Arena actually gave class/spec/race awareness to players that had previously been entirely overwhelmed by PvP in any form. Death Race and Last Man Standing seemed to encourage raid awareness and class knowledge that we hadn't seen coming.

a little back story to some of them... hide and seek was a time waster because so many of our friends had explored so many sexy places in the game and we wanted them to share them with us and so Alex (Belegorad - a paladin, see...) or Julienne would hide somewhere in the world and guildies would come find us. Bele had many more creative places to hide and was better at giving clues so it became Spot the Pally.

Spot the Pally (Hide and Seek)Clues are given every few minutes to the folks who are playing the game. Seekers can use ANY ability naturally provided in the game by foods, spells, racial or class abilities. They can use the guild or friend information tab for a basic location clue. No one may party the guildie who is hiding or use any addons that would help them cheat.The winner is the first competitor to successfully "emote" on the Hider proving they are in range. This can be any emote, please remember some appropriateness as we're not the only folks in the game or in an area at any given time and this is a game that children play.

Naked World ArenaJust like it sounds. LOLStrip your armor off, strip your buffs off and if weapons are required for what you do buy white letter or find gray letter items to equip. No enchants are allowed. No buff foods. Turn your pet abilities off.Travel safely or Have Group Will Travel summon into the World Arena location (we found the one at Feralas was frankly safer than the one in Stranglethorn or Nagrand as they're still used more often) of your choice and compete until only one remains.Gold and or prizes and much bragging rights are your reward.Warning, naked priests pwn faces and hunters are STILL overpowered, even with no gear on.

Death RaceEver wondered just how uber leet you really are and wanted the perfect way to prove it to everyone?Try taking a level 20 character to get flight points in Ice Crown, Borean Tundra, Grizzly Hills, Crystalsong and Howling Fijord with only the help of 3 other level 85's. How about a level 30 into Uldum, Hyjal, Twilight Highlands and Vashj'ir?Boats and trains and multi-person mounts are accepted. Have Group Will Travel, Warlock Summons and Gathering Stone Summons are not allowed. Death Running (traveling with your lower level charge in ghost form) is not allowed.Everyone pays 250g entry fee to join and the whole pot goes to the winning team of 5 - 1 lower level toon and the 4 max level toons.There is no second place... only one team can win each week. Do YOU have what it takes? lol

Last Man Standing and I Dare Ya...What do our adventurers do for relaxation and fun? Alex and some of his friends gave this some thought and decided that THEIR adventurers get drunk and come up with outrageous challenges for each other... or tell stories until one of them dares another to do something insanely dangerous.Isn't that what all heroes do? Agree on the wager first and everyone pays the Game Master their part of the wager. Usually this is 25-100g each.Last Man Standing and I Dare Ya both came from this idea and are evolutions of the same game.Last Man Standing requires your character to be drunk, have a flying mount and bag space for your armor as well as enough gold to pay the wager or entry fee.Get your character blind drunk (this means you have the debuff from puking so your party members can see it,) un-equip your armor to your bags and keep only your weapons on, mount a flying mount and fly up until you're all facing the same way at the same height and turn on auto-run until the game master calls stop. No steering or guiding. When the game master calls stop you land if you're not already on the ground and you walk back to the starting point. The last person left alive or first person back to the Inn wins the pot.If you hit the ground or water you're gonna have to swim for it or run the rest of the way until you're told to stop. Enemy territory and you're already dead? Sorry folks... sometimes drunken adventures end this way. Res and head back to the Inn, you're not the last man standing.For I Dare Ya the same basic rules apply with variations. These are usually smaller groups and the wagers are between the participants. For instance... I dare you to go over that hill and take that Horde village in your Holy set. I bet you can't do Utgarde Pinnacle in the summer event clothes. The pots are usually smaller and the bragging rights are usually greater in these related games.

The most impressive part of the games, to me, was that so many people started making up their OWN games or variations of them and wanted to participate not just in the playing but in the supervising and creation of them.

I miss Decadence, Inc.

I miss making up our own games in WoW to layer and play into all of the other games that were created for us by Blizzard.

Folks on Uldaman are still in the /spotthepally and /decadencegames chat channels and every once in awhile someone asked a question or used them so I remembered they were there. I've since deleted all the toons who used those channels or moved them from the server so I no longer have them to ping and remind me of the past.

I wonder... could /renaissancegames get big enough that we could give away a 5,000g pot to a Death Race team on Baelgun?